14.7.1 : World changes

[___________Evilspork]

Originally posted by Kuroshio
Face it, a nanoprogramming buff is about as needed as crome mags on a car.

Agreed.

Originally posted by Kuroshio
When the Fixer NCUHI was implemented, the parts needed to make one could be aquired at any Ordinary/Basic Supermarket. Why? Because it was an important profession balancing item.

New melee items are getting sold from a vendor and all that's required is for people to find him. Pretty easy to aquire. Why? Because it's an important balancing item.

Nanoprogramming is not a major feature in AO. So far every feature in AO that utilizes nanoprogramming has been doable without the nano. To me it says it's not a necessity but an extra. And to me it's perfectly valid to have to work at it.

Not agreed. Where do you think the *rest* of the NT balancing nanos will come from? Boss mobs. Not just your superfluous nanos.

Up until 14.4, fixers had one SMG and Burst buff apart from the generals and wrangles: our startup nano. Everybody else had their AR mastery, Take The Shot, Dirty Fighter. The "masters of the SMG" had a +8 buff.

After 14.4, we got level req'd boss drop self only nanos to fill that gap. Adventurers got level req'd boss drop self only (I think) nanos for their pistols. Is that fair compared to what other classes have? No.

Why are you disagreeing with me? What I want is for all professions to have the same difficulty in getting their central nanos, not just for two (maybe four now, with NTs and Engis on the line) professions to have to go through crap to get them.

Again, like I said, make all high level nanos for all professions level req'd and boss loot only, or make none of them level req'd and boss loot. Anything else is blatant hypocrisy.

[Kuro]

Originally posted by Evil "Evilspork" Spork
Agreed.

Not agreed. Where do you think the *rest* of the NT balancing nanos will come from? Boss mobs. Not just your superfluous nanos.

Up until 14.4, fixers had one SMG and Burst buff apart from the generals and wrangles: our startup nano. Everybody else had their AR mastery, Take The Shot, Dirty Fighter. The "masters of the SMG" had a +8 buff.

After 14.4, we got level req'd boss drop self only nanos to fill that gap. Adventurers got level req'd boss drop self only (I think) nanos for their pistols. Is that fair compared to what other classes have? No.

Why are you disagreeing with me? What I want is for all professions to have the same difficulty in getting their central nanos, not just for two (maybe four now, with NTs and Engis on the line) professions to have to go through crap to get them.

Again, like I said, make all high level nanos for all professions level req'd and boss loot only, or make none of them level req'd and boss loot. Anything else is blatant hypocrisy.

If FC designed a AoE Divest/Plunder for Traders, I'd fully expect to find those nanos on boss mobs only. And I'd wipe out whole playfields, if necessary to get them.

The reason for this is I have survived as a trader without them for this long they obviously aren't the most necessary nano in my playbook. But if I want to be among the best, I have to work at it.

Same goes for the nanoprogramming nano. Now if FC actually implements that object they talked about briefly that NTs would wield instead of weapons, magnifying thier nuke ability, I'd fully expect the GMs to air drop them from Yalmahas and the ARKs to give them away as party favors in the Reet on an hourly basis. Because that wouldn't be a perk but it would be balancing item for NTs.

What kills me though is how overly sensitive people are on this issue. Not everything is a nerf and I highly doubt anyone at FC has enough time to concentrate on hating 1 single profession when there are 11 more to pick on (yes, I'm still smarting from the last DHP I cast). Lighten up...it's only implants

[___________Evilspork]

Would you *please* read my posts? I am *not* talking about special handy dandy nanos like leet charms and theoretical AoE ransacks (which would only make one of the most powerful professions even more powerful, and is a bad example of a new nano). I am talking about broken and incomplete professions that get "fixed" to different standards than other professions.

Tell me why fixers and adventurers get their primary weapon buffs crippled just because they were introduced later while other classes' primary weapon buffs are not crippled in the same ways. I'm not completely familiar with NTs and don't know specifics about how they're broken (though I trust the people that say they are), but what if a MC buff/nuke damage enhancer, a nano that would bring your character up to par with the other classes, were level req'd and put on boss mobs only?

If you want to be in a debate with me, stop attacking points I'm not making and answer the questions and statements I *do* make.

[secondkenlon]

And why are their buffs self only?

Why can't people get SMG buffs from a Fixer, or 1he buffs from an adv?

What's the point?

[uburoi]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Kenlon
[B]They need some more tactical ubers.

Ones that debuff, ones that *can* be debuffed in a meaningful manner, ones that *cannot* be main-tanked (auto-switching between the first 5 on the hate list in a random order), mobs summoned or spawned as adds that can be mezzed, but cause the mez to break unpredictably (And are immune to area calms), mobs that switch damage vunerabilities over time (also switching nuke damage type output), mobs that spawn unmezzable adds that must be tanked off seperately, "uber-boss" outposts where the mobs fight together (social in very specific ways) and use nanos that mobs don't normally use (doc mobs init debuffing, NT mobs nuking from behind the battle line and running to safely at 1/2 health, engie mobs with auras, crat mobs that mez (real mez, no attacking) players, and so on and so on and so on.). "Uber-boss" outposts that are the same, but in reverse (players fighting off an invasion of Mantises or Medusae out in EFP, Bileswarm uprisings attacking places in DAV, Rhinoman rampages th the north of Rubi-ka. . . )

There's *so* *much* tactical flexibility in this game that goes unutilized.
If Funcom uses it, they can make big fights that are more than "Pile on the big guy!".


YES! DEAR GOD YES!

I feel especially bad for those whose prof abilities are just rendered useless by these mobs....crats, mps, nts, etc

[secondkenlon]

They should hire me.

I GM Shadowrun. I spend all day thinking about how to make my player's lives miserable.

[Kuro]

Originally posted by Evil "Evilspork" Spork
Would you *please* read my posts? I am *not* talking about special handy dandy nanos like leet charms and theoretical AoE ransacks (which would only make one of the most powerful professions even more powerful, and is a bad example of a new nano). I am talking about broken and incomplete professions that get "fixed" to different standards than other professions.

Tell me why fixers and adventurers get their primary weapon buffs crippled just because they were introduced later while other classes' primary weapon buffs are not crippled in the same ways. I'm not completely familiar with NTs and don't know specifics about how they're broken (though I trust the people that say they are), but what if a MC buff/nuke damage enhancer, a nano that would bring your character up to par with the other classes, were level req'd and put on boss mobs only?

If you want to be in a debate with me, stop attacking points I'm not making and answer the questions and statements I *do* make.

This is gonna be a long one, so if you just want to argue I suggest you skip it and flame me now .

Let's assume Funcom designated all professions at release as "Baseline". The abilities those professions had at release is to be the average, normal Fixer/Trader/Enforcer/ect. Funcom has admitted that they made some miscalculations ocncerning the professions (such as mistakes in skill budgeting) and that means that "Baseline" needs tweaking, a.k.a. some extra abilities added to address holes in their ability packages.

Now while Funcom has a responsibility to address those 'holes' in the professions' skill packages, they also have a responsibility to not go back and make the same mistakes they made before. That means now that they've established a skills budget (which they admitted a lot of the "Baseline" abilities didn't take in account) and said "XXXX profession will be capable of doing Y at Z level", they actually have to stick to those rules they've established for the game. Unfortunately for us, that means things like level requirements and skills reqs that don't necessarily match up with the "Baseline" abilities. If Funcom didn't do that, they would just be making the same mistake they made at release and the game would continue to spin out of control. The other choice would be to remove the abilities that didn't follow the game plan, which would have people howling like banshees and calling for sacrifices.

Does that answer your question about level requirements? Hope so cause I'm moving on.

Now for "Why boss loot?". We still have the "Baseline" professions and the abilities they all have. Whether or not you want to admit it, each one of the professions has been capable of holding their own despite the 'holes' in their abilities. While Funcom is adding abilities to address these 'holes', they also have to look at the players' current abilities of the intended level for those items/nanos. They also want to add new abilities to the professions to 'keep them fresh'. Both of these mean that the abilities will bring a player of XXX profession above the "Baseline". The player with those new abilities would not be your average Adventurer, Nanotechnician, Doctor, ect. At the lower levels it might be difficult for a new player to get together a team to take a boss. So the occasional 'gimme' is okay. But at the higher levels, everyone should be fully capable of getting those abilities that take them above baseline'. No pain, no gain.

[__________Wraith God]

I fail to understand why people are happy that the center bank in trade has been removed, and the grid moved. Yeah, it was laggy on occation, but that was because that was where people congregated. That is, it was a social place.

Funcom's solution to lag control seems to be to obliterate the social aspect of the game, and this is exactly the wrong move. You want to increase the social aspect of the game. That means you want places where people congregate. That's what makes the game interesting for a lot of people, obviously myself included. The game is radically different when not a lot of people are around, and for me, nowhere near as interesting.

I haven't seen any patch that has markedly improved the social aspect of the game since it started. Everything is on PvP, team missions, fixing stupid bugs, and rebalancing profs due to errors that a bit of thought could have avoided in the first place. The social aspect has been left hanging in the breeze. Obviously, that's not what they want in the game - its just too much trouble.

[______________Myrkon]

A lot of bosses were clearly overpowered. I think it's cool to tune them down as a side effect from the NW.

Question is which of them have been affected. Anyone know?

[secondkenlon]

Nah, the bosses are not hard enough.
Sure, they hit hard and have uber HP/evades, but that's no real challenge.

[___________Evilspork]

They should all have instakill stares of doom and should fly, too.